


Just Friends

by vulpixel



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Nonbinary Character, im bad at tagging! i'll add more later when this actually has more meat on its bones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:27:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23759848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vulpixel/pseuds/vulpixel
Summary: uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so what if both leonie and ingrid were butch and nonbinary and also dated 🤔this is a modern au where both ingrid and leonie frequent the same gym
Relationships: Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Leonie Pinelli
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

There is no better way to spend a day off than at the gym. At least for Ingrid. She pulls into the parking lot as the sun is barely rising in the sky. She breathes in the fresh morning air. The gym always feels so nice this early in the morning. Only a few people wander about, leaving all the equipment open for the taking. Ingrid hates having competition for the weights, especially with all the other men around. She scans her card at the front desk.

“Good morning, Ingrid!” The person at the front desk greets her cheerfully. “You’re getting an early start today.”

“Good morning, Annie. It’s my day off. You should know my routine by now.” Ingrid waves at her.

She starts her day in the locker room. The early morning emptiness grants her a moment of peace as well as privacy as she strips her pants off. Pants are too restrictive. She needs shorts if she is to work at her full potential.

Ingrid stretches on a yoga mat. Quietly, she counts out each stretch. She watches her form in the mirror. It looks a little sloppy. She makes a mental note to attend a yoga class next week. It can never hurt to be more flexible.

Once her muscles feel exceptionally loosened, she heads out to the treadmills. As much as she would love to jump straight to the weights, working out is a process. Overworking her arms will leave her body unhappy the next day. Besides, she tends to skip leg day in favor of more reps on the bench. It’s starting to catch up to her. Luckily for her, the treadmill is an easy warmup to get her blood pumping. Ingrid tunes out the rest of the gym and puts her headphones in. She turns on her workout playlist. The fast beats motivate her. The treadmill whirs to life. It beeps as it speeds up. Her feet jog along at an easy rhythm.

A few minutes later, another woman gets on the treadmill. This does not bother Ingrid. Everyone has their right to the gym equipment of their choosing. However, she recognizes this woman. She sees her around the gym all the time, and she is one of the only other women who works with the free weights. The two have an unspoken solidarity over it.

Ingrid watches her out of the corner of her eye. The woman seems to pay no attention to her. Instead, she puts her own headphones in and plays with the buttons of the treadmill. It hums to life and soon, she is jogging along with Ingrid. Again, Ingrid has no problem with this whatsoever, but the other woman is going exactly 1mph faster than her. Ingrid speeds up her own treadmill to match with her new running buddy. She dares tick it up another mile for taste.

Not even a minute later, the other woman speeds her own treadmill up. It whines as it picks up the pace. Ingrid notices immediately. She pumps up her own treadmill to match. They are almost running now, stuck in the purgatory of too slow to run and too fast to comfortably jog. The other woman kicks it up a notch. Ingrid does the same. Soon, both of them are full out sprinting on the treadmills.

Ingrid glances down at her timer. Twenty minutes. They have been running for _twenty minutes_. Usually, her warmups only last twenty minutes, but the other woman shows no signs of stopping. Exhaustion is starting to creep in. Her legs scream at her to slow down. Still, she presses on. She cannot even hear her music over the pounding of her feet on the rubber. At the half hour mark, she has to stop. Her finger shakily hovers over the cooldown button. She has to. She will pass away if she goes any longer.

Pressing the button gives Ingrid the sweet sense of release. The treadmill starts to slow down. Ingrid lets out a sigh of relief. She leans heavily onto the bars as her legs go numb. They feel like jello. Almost immediately as she steps off the treadmill, her leg gives out. Quickly, she catches herself on the bars. She glances back to see if the other woman noticed. To her dismay, the other woman is already gone. A ping of disappointment hits her chest. It is quickly taken over by her inability to breathe.

With her legs absolutely pulverized, Ingrid decides she deserves a water break. She steps forward and immediately tumbles to the ground. The world around her goes fuzzy. Cheesy workout music rings in her ears as her vision goes black.

\----

Ingrid awakens to a sea of fluffy clouds. She gently floats through them. Her entire body feels numb. It moves in slow motion as she tries to reposition herself upright. Instead, she starts spinning in agonizingly slow circles. This goes on for hours. Ingrid sighs and accepts her fate. If this is what being dead is like, she can put up with it. Or maybe this is just a concussion. Either way, she is hungry. Her stomach growls at her. The clouds are starting to look tasty.

Using all her mind strength, Ingrid wills herself to stop spinning. Finally, she feels in control of herself. Her body moves with her. She continues to float along the river of clouds. The clouds turn a light shade of pink as the sun sets. The sky turns a glorious orange. Ingrid leans back and grabs a handful of a pink fluffy cloud. It tastes just how she imagined it. The cloud melts in her mouth, leaving the sugary sweet taste of cotton candy on her tongue. She goes in for seconds.

 _“Hey, wake up.”_ A voice echoes loudly around her.

Ingrid does not want to. She wants to eat more clouds. As she reaches in for another bite, a hand grabs her. It reaches out to slap her in the face.

_“Please wake up. Don’t make me carry you to the ER.”_

Someone is slapping her. Repeatedly.

Lights flood in, blinding Ingrid. Slowly, the real world comes back into focus. She squints to see a certain someone hunched over her slapping her face gently.

“Did I die?” Ingrid mumbles.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re awake,” the woman says with a sigh of relief. She finally stops slapping Ingrid. “I was worried I lost you there.”

“I’m not lost. I just- my head hurts. Do I have a concussion?”

“I think you’re just dehydrated. Still, we can never be too careful.” The woman holds out her water bottle to her. “Drink this. It’ll help.”

Ingrid stares at the bottle a moment before taking it. The cold water feels like nectar straight from the goddess. She gulps it down needily. Suddenly, she feels reborn. Her body resurrects from the dead.

“Feeling better?” The woman asks her, still sounding concerned.

“Very.” Ingrid nods. She attempts to stand up. “Let’s go do some shoulder presses.”

“Woah. Hold on.” The woman keeps her from standing up. “Are you sure you’re good to work out?”

Ingrid shrugs. “Yeah. My legs hurt a bit, but that can’t stop me from working out my arms.”

“You’re like me.” The woman laughs and holds her hand out. “What’s your name? I see you here all the time. I feel like we should get to know each other.”

“We always do seem to work out at the same time. I’m Ingrid.” She takes her hand.

The other woman pulls her up. “Ingrid’s a sick name. I’m Leonie. Nice to meet you.”

That’s actually a badass name. Ingrid finds herself jealous she gets such a cool name. _Leonie_? That’s awesome. Why couldn’t Ingrid choose a cooler name for herself.

Leonie breaks her from her internal monologue. “Do you want to spot for me?”

The question takes Ingrid by surprise. “Yeah. Of course.”

Leonie beams at her. “I’ve always wanted a gym buddy.”

“Me too. My friends all hate waking up early, let alone working out.”

“I think this is the start of something good. How much do you bench?”

“About 120 on a good day.”

“Oh nice.”

Leonie loads up the weights on the bar. She slides 140 pounds onto the bar and positions herself under it. Ingrid takes her place over her, looking down. She stares as her partner starts lifting up and down. She does rep after rep, taking a deep breath to push herself further. Ingrid finds herself captivated by her form. The way her muscles tighten, the look of focus in her eyes, her abs. _Her abs_. A single bead of sweat forms on Leonie’s forehead. Ingrid subconsciously leans down to dab the sweat away from her face.

“Thanks, bro.” Leonie huffs as she pushes herself for one last rep. The bar clicks in place, and she sits up. “You wanna alternate sets?”

“Sure.” Ingrid starts sliding the extra weight off the bar. She refuses to humiliate herself twice in one day.

They work out together for another hour until more people start showing up at the gym. Slowly, the gym comes to life around them. The treadmills fill up quickly. More men come over to use the weights. Ingrid can feel their eyes on her. She easily ignores them.

“Hey, the hot tub is actually empty for once. Wanna join me?” Leonie asks as they walk back to the locker room.

“That would be nice, actually. I always feel weird sitting in it alone.”

Only one other person is in the locker room as they enter. A lone television plays on the wall, adding some nonsensical chatter to the otherwise silent room. Ingrid has never bothered herself with watching it. It only serves as background noise. She heads over to her locker. To her surprise, Leonie walks to a nearby locker not even three lockers down. Immediately, she throws off her shirt. Ingrid is taken aback by the sheer strength of this woman. Her muscles seem sent from the goddess herself. And those are just her back muscles. If Ingrid looked like her, she would never put a shirt on ever again.

Instead, she has to put on a swimsuit. She hates this part. Something about the tight fabric makes her uncomfortable. It feels different from her workout clothes. Quickly, she slips into her swimsuit. Leonie has a different method of changing. She rips off her shorts, leaving herself mostly naked for anyone to see. Ingrid immediately looks away. She focuses on her towel. It suddenly seems very interesting.

“You ready?” Leonie asks her as she slips her top on. Oddly enough, she wears a men’s swimsuit.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Ingrid answers. She tosses her towel back in her locker.

The hot water feels heavenly. Ingrid can feel herself relaxing. She leans back into a jet. Leonie sits directly across from her. They relax in a comfortable silence. Ingrid slowly sinks into the water. Leonie does the same. Their knees meet in the middle.

“Sorry.” Ingrid immediately sits back up.

“Nothin’ wrong with a little skin contact.” Leonie laughs it off. “I’m not gonna bite.”

“That’s good to know.”

They stay in the hot tub for a while longer. Soon, a swarm of kids charge in for their swim lessons. The pool area fills with the sounds of excited screaming and water splashing. Ingrid takes this as her cue to leave. Leonie seems to agree with her as they both stand up at the same time.

Ingrid dries off her hair with a towel. It sticks to her face. She pushes it out of the way and starts violently rubbing it with her towel. Leonie does the same. She plays with her hair in the mirror after she blow dries it.

“My hair’s getting too long,” she says, running her hand through her orange hair.

“Mine too.” Ingrid answers, annoyed that her hair managed to grow past her ears. She is well overdue for another cut. It has been over a month since her last. “I just hate going to the hairdresser.

“Me too! They always give me such a girly cut. I hate it. That’s why I buzz mine myself.”

“You do it yourself?”

“Yeah. I can help you do yours if you want. I bet you’d look killer with an undercut.”

The thought has never occurred to Ingrid. She absolutely dreads the awkwardness of telling the hairdresser to make her cut look more masculine. And every time, she never gets what she wants.

“I’d be down to try it,” Ingrid says.

“Really? Give me your phone. I’ll put in my number.”

Ingrid grabs her cell phone from her bag. The screen lights up, and she hands it over to Leonie. The other woman types in her information and hands her phone back. Ingrid clicks her phone off and puts it back into her bag.

“Awesome.” Leonie beams. “Just shoot me a text, and we’ll make it a date.”

“Sounds good to me. Will I see you around?”

“Yeah. I gotta get home to hop in the shower. I forgot to bring my own soap, and I hate the stuff they provide here. It’s just the hand soap.” Leonie throws her bag over her shoulder. “Later, Ingrid!”

“See you, Leonie.” Ingrid waves goodbye.


	2. Chapter 2

Ingrid lies on her bed in only a towel. She stares at her phone, not sure what to do with herself. Eventually, she grabs it, only to stare at the blank screen for another half an hour. She unlocks it, only to see the contact screen for Leonie.

“Hot butch from the gym?” She reads aloud to herself. The statement puzzles her. That has to be Leonie, but why would she put her name in as that? She clicks the name to create a text message. After a few minutes, she manages to format a message that seems casual (but not too casual) enough to send. Her phone buzzes a couple minutes later.

Leonie: Ingrid! Hi! You caught me right out of the shower. Good timing.

Ingrid: Oh sorry. I just wanted to text you so you have my number.

Leonie: I dont mind lol whats up w you?

Ingrid: I also just got out of the shower.

Leonie: Shower buddies?

Ingrid: Yeah haha

Leonie: Will I see u tomorrow?

Ingrid: I get off around 5.

Leonie: I could get there at 6 if u wanted to workout together again

Ingrid: That would be nice. See you tomorrow?

Leonie: See you tomorrow gym buddy 😉 hope you like squats

Ingrid throws her phone back onto the bed, feeling exhausted from ten minutes worth of text messages. A half hour on the treadmill is nothing compared to any amount of socialization. Still, Leonie seems easy to talk to, and Ingrid so desperately needs a gym buddy.

As much as she loves her friend Caspar, his workout routine is a bit too chaotic for her tastes. Well, it can’t really be called a routine. He bounces from machine to machine at a lightning pace. Nothing can keep his attention for more than five minutes. They start on the treadmills together, and suddenly he is across the gym doing squats or taking a dive in the pool. Ingrid cannot keep up with him even if she wanted to. Besides, Leonie seems to be on a similar level to her both physically and mentally. They have basically the same routine and schedules. It’s a match made in heaven.

\----

The clock runs excruciatingly slow as the minutes tick down. Ingrid constantly checks the time on her phone. By now, the battery is almost dead. She looks around the empty store. With no customers around, she decides to check inventory yet again. As it was the first few times, everything is still in place. Ingrid looks up at the clock. The minute hand ticks closer to five o’clock. A small ping of joy fills Ingrid. _Almost_.

The phone rings throughout the store. Ingrid sprints to go answer it.

“Hi, thank you for calling Fhirdiad Tractor and Tool Supply. This is Ingrid speaking. How may I help you?” She recites into the phone.

“Oh, uh, hey, Ingrid. It’s Sylvain. I’m gonna be late again. Like, maybe half an hour late. Can you tell the bossman for me? Thanks.”

Ingrid holds in any ill words that come to mind. She lets her frustration out on a stray receipt a customer left behind. “Yeah. Of course. I’ll let him know.”

“You’re the best, Ingrid. I owe ya one!”

He owes her much more than one. However, now is not the time to bring this up.

\----

Once free from the bonds of work, Ingrid beelines to the gym. She grabs her bag from the backseat and skips inside. Annette, as usual, is behind the front desk. She gives Ingrid a smile as she passes.

Right after work, the gym is much more populated. Women fill the locker room, making it hard to find a secluded spot. Noise fills the room as people chat amongst themselves. One woman has a particularly loud conversation on the phone as she changes into a swimsuit.

Ingrid finally finds a spot away from most other people. Quickly, she starts changing her clothes before anyone can get a good look at her.

“Ingrid! Hey!” A voice catches her by surprise.

The woman jumps at the sound of her name. Instinctively, she grabs her shirt to cover herself. She glances behind her to see Leonie waving at her.

“Oh, hey, Leonie.” She sighs in relief when she sees her. “I didn’t think you’d be here already.”

“I told you I’d get here at six.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.”

Leonie starts undressing. Unlike Ingrid, she has no shame when it comes to showing off her body. She tosses off her shirt without a care in the world. She bends down to fetch her clothes from her gym bag, showing off her back muscles. Ingrid cannot help but stare. She finds herself jealous of this woman’s entire body. Right down to her- wait.

“Did you hurt yourself?” Ingrid asks, eyeing a bandage on Leonie’s thigh.

Leonie looks down. “Oh, this? I guess you could say that.”

Her answer left much more to be desired, but Ingrid decides it is best not to pry.

First stop, as always, is the yoga room. Leonie grabs a mat for both of them. Ingrid sits down and starts by stretching out her legs. She spaces out as she counts each different stretch. Leonie stretches her arms, turning her torso as she does so. She looks back at her gym buddy.

“Hey, Ingrid.”

“Yeah?” She looks up.

“Watch this.” Leonie dips down into a full split.

Ingrid gawks at the sight. “How did you do that?”

“I’ve been practicing for a while, and I can finally do it. Pretty cool, yeah?”

“Really cool. I wish I could do that.”

“I could teach you. It’s not hard if you go little by little. Patience is the key.” Leonie stands back up. “However, you do seem a little stiff.”

Ingrid? Stiff? She never considered herself flexible, but by no means is she stiff. She stretches before every single workout session.

“I may not be as flexible as you, but I try my best to stay limber,” she says in protest.

“You would be a lot more flexible if you did your stretches correctly.” Leonie argues back.

Unfortunately, that was true. Ingrid has no proper comeback. “Then, why don’t you show me.”

“Sounds good to me. Stand up. I’m gonna show you a proper lunge.”

Ingrid stands back up and demonstrates a lunge for her. Leonie shakes her head disappointedly.

“Just because you’re stretching your legs, doesn’t mean you can ignore your posture. Put your chest out more.” Leonie instructs her. She shows her how it’s done.

“Like this?” Ingrid tries to copy her. It feels awkward.

“More. You’re still slouched.”

“This?”

“Here. Let me show you.” Leonie moves Ingrid into the correct position. She shows no shame as she feels Ingrid up. Ingrid immediately turns bright red. This is a public building. Someone could get the wrong idea.

“Better?” Leonie asks her.

“A lot better.” Ingrid nods. “Thank you.”

They go through a few more stretches before heading out into the training room. As always, they start their routine on the treadmills. Most of them are filled with other people. They squeeze into a couple in the middle. Ingrid starts up her workout playlist. Leonie puts on her own headphones.

“What do you listen to while working out?” She asks Ingrid.

Ingrid has no good answer for that. Usually, her phone just shuffles a random playlist she finds on her music app.

“Anything fast paced. I like a lot of loud guitars and stuff.” She answers.

“Me too. I also like that fast paced EDM for working out. It numbs my mind so I can just run for hours,” Leonie says.

“You’ll have to send me your playlist.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll just show you.” Leonie hands over her phone.

Ingrid looks down at the playlist. It only has four songs on it. “This is just two Cascada songs, Darude Sandstorm, and Brain Power.”

“Yeah.”

“You just listen to the same four songs for two hours?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you do it?”

Leonie shrugs. “No clue, but it really gets me going.”

“Amazing.” Is all Ingrid can respond with. She hands the phone back.

Leonie plugs her headphones back in and sets her phone on the treadmill. “So twenty minutes?”

“I usually do twenty minutes and then a ten minute cooldown.”

“On it, captain.”

The machine beeps as Ingrid programs in her routine. The belt starts moving, setting her off at a slower pace. It picks up until Ingrid is at a comfortable jog. Leonie jogs beside her, keeping pace. They continue on in total silence. Ingrid stares straight ahead as she spaces out. Her body takes over, moving her along on its own.

Time passes by quickly. Ingrid and Leonie take turns on the bench press. Then, they do squats. At the end of the day, both women are drenched in sweat. Ingrid chugs her whole water bottle. Leonie does the same.

“That was a good work out. I haven’t felt this good in months! We should make this a regular thing.” Leonie comments. She starts ripping her clothes off the second they step into the locker room.

The idea is intriguing. Ingrid has never had a consistent gym partner before. Having Leonie around would definitely motivate her to work harder. “We should definitely do this again.”

“How about once a week?”

“That sounds good to me.”

Ingrid focuses as she tries to remember her lock combination. Her fingers work delicately as she turns the knob to the exact numbers she needs. Eventually, the lock comes undone. She pulls her gym bag out. When she looks over, Leonie is completely naked. Ingrid jumps out of her skin. Immediately, she turns away, her face bright red.

“I’m gonna hit the shower,” Leonie says, pulling a towel out of her bag, “Be right back.”

“Oh, me too.” Ingrid answers, still unable to make eye contact. The ceiling suddenly seems very interesting.

Leonie disappears to take a shower, leaving Ingrid with her own dilemma. She needs to shower, but Leonie is also showering. The awkwardness of getting stuck in the stall next to her, walking out at the same time, having to see Leonie naked yet again. It’s basically just taking a shower together. Ingrid wishes there was an easier option than just getting it over with. Still, seeing as she reeks of gym sweat, it is her only option. Quickly, she tears her clothes off and wraps herself into a towel. She dives into the nearest available shower.

\----

The shower turns off, shrouding Ingrid in a cloud of steam. She feels refreshed as she steps out. Her hair clings to her face. She wraps her towel around herself and steps out into the cold locker room. Immediately, a shiver runs through her whole body. As soon as she turns to head back to her locker, Leonie steps out of the shower directly next to her. They make eye contact.

“What a surprise!” Leonie grins at her.

Ingrid laughs awkwardly. “Yeah. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

Of course, they head back to the same locker. Ingrid stands completely still while Leonie throws her towel off. She wastes no time drying herself off. Ingrid tries not to hyperventilate as she rushes to pull her sports bra back on. Once clothed, she can finally breathe again.

Next, they go to dry their hair together. They stand in front of the large mirror, hair dryers howling. Not a word can be heard. Ingrid stares at herself in the mirror. Someone else stares back at her. She takes that as a sign she needs to cut her hair. It itches at the back of her neck.

“I gotta buzz my hair again.” Leonie sighs as she runs her hand through her hair, seeming to read Ingrid’s mind.

“Me too,” Ingrid says, “The hairdresser never gives me the cut I want.”

 _She always makes it too girlish_.

“That’s why I cut my own hair.”

“You cut your own hair? It looks so good.”

“Aw, gee, thanks. I could cut yours for you sometime. I could buzz it all off, or maybe give you an undercut. I think you’d look cool with an undercut.”

“I’ve always wanted an undercut.”

“Let’s make it a date then.” Leonie grins. “What day works for you?”

“Well, are you available tonight?” Ingrid wonders.

“Tonight works for me. We could pick up some takeout somewhere and watch Die Hard.”

“Die Hard? Really?”

“It’s my favorite movie. Forget the other ones exist.”

“I’ve never seen it.”

“Holy shit, Ingrid. You’re coming over to watch it.”

Ingrid laughs. “I don’t think I can say no.”

“You can’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twitter is [here](https://twitter.com/_vulpixel) for all your gay needs  
> stay fergalicious 😔

**Author's Note:**

> i have that twitter thingy if ur interested @[vulpixel](https://twitter.com/_vulpixel)


End file.
